It was hot.

It wasn't even July yet, but it was already eighty degrees, and it was only nine o'clock in the morning. Normally Loki wouldn't have set foot outside the comfortable coolness of his room in the tower, but he was on a mission.

The bell over the door jingled as he entered the Brazilian market. There weren't many customers this time of day, but he spotted one man browsing through the news rack and another pouring himself a cup of coffee, so he kept his public face on.

"Good morning, Yarah," he greeted the owner, sitting on a little stool behind the cash register.

"Hello, Mr. John," she said. "What can I get-" Then she saw the wheeled hand cart he had brought in with him. "Oh. Is that time again?"

"Yes, unfortunately. He's out of beer again."

"He" was, of course, Thor, who was spending the day with Jane and thus unable to fill his beverage needs himself.

"Is not good, he drinks so much beer. Men who drink like that get . . . mad? Is that right?"

"Some do. He manages it all right, though. It helps that he's the size of a house. Me, now, I have one glass of wine at dinner and I need to lie down for the rest of the evening."

"What brand? We have Schaefer on sale this week."

"That'll be fine, thanks. Four cases."

"Four?"

"He can pick up the rest tomorrow. Four is all I can manage."

The man who had been picking out a newspaper came up to the front counter. "Four cases of beer? You havin' a party or something?"

Loki turned and was about to say something cutting, but he thought better of it. "They're not for me."

"I should hope not. You'd be on the floor."

The lights flickered briefly as Yarah came back from the beer cooler with a rolling cart similar to Loki's own. She started transferring the cases from one cart to the other.

"Need any help with that?" the man behind Loki offered.

"No, I have it." She loaded the second one, then the third . . .

And all of a sudden the lights went out.

There was a yelp as the man pouring his cup of coffee spilled some on his hand. "What the hell?" he shouted up at the ceiling.

"I can come back," Loki offered.

"No, no, is done."

"I mean I'll come back and pay for them. Obviously the machine can't take my card without electricity to run it, and the ATM isn't working either."

Coffee Man had moved to the front window. "Looks like the whole block's gone out. Except for the tower. They've got their own power source."

The interior of the shop started to become very warm as the hot, humid air mass from outside overpowered the remnants of the air conditioning. Loki had to get out now or he'd pass out.

"If you need to," he said, "you can come to our building. The bottom two floors are open to the public, especially in times of crisis."

"Nah, I got to get to work."

"If they're open," said the other man.

Just then, the lights came back on. The coolers hummed back into life, and cold air blew down from the vents. Loki breathed a sigh of relief. He might have had to climb into the freezers in a minute.

"Just a minute for the register to-to-" Yarah, English words failing her, moved her hands in a circular gesture.

"Reboot?" Loki suggested.

"Yes. One minute."

It was a bit less than that, but Loki nevertheless let the other two gentlemen pay before him so they could get to work on time. He himself had nowhere to go but back to his apartment, and no plans for the day but looking up online fun things for his children to do when they arrived in a few days.

He added a bottle of water to his purchase. It was still cold, and he sipped it while Yarah rang up the beer. It came to nearly a quarter of his monthly allowance, but surely Thor would pay him back.

"If the power goes out again," he said on his way out, "feel free to come over and join us. You and the boys. Where are they today?"

"Upstairs. They play . . . games."

"My kids should be coming up at the end of the week. We'll arrange some play dates."

"Yes, thank you. Thank you. Come again!"

He pushed the cart, heavier now that it was fully loaded, up the street in the oppressive heat. Only two blocks, but it felt like two miles. He consoled himself with the knowledge that in just a few minutes, he could relax in his sixty-five-degree room and not have to do anything at all.

He nodded to the security guard who was patrolling the front lobby. "Morning, Stanley."

"Mr. Lawson, where are you going with all that beer?"

"To my brother's room. He asked me to restock his supply for him while he's out."

"Looks like a month's supply. Hey, not my place to judge a man's drinking habits. You need any help with that?"

"No, thank you. I can manage."

He made it to the elevator, pressed the button, and waited for what seemed like forever. The offices on the lower to middle floors were just opening up for the day, and the elevator stopped on every single floor.

It was then that Loki noticed that it didn't seem to be all that cool in the lobby. "Is the air conditioning system working?" he asked Stan.

"It was. Hmm, it does seem to be getting a little warm in here. I'll call Maintenance."

Finally, the elevator doors opened, and Loki maneuvered the cart in with him and pushed the proper button. Just as the doors were about to close, someone came running up and pushed them open again.

"Sorry, sorry!" It was a young woman, blonde, in a green dress and gold heels. "I'm late. Push twenty-four for me, would you please?"

"Of course." He hit the button numbered 24, and the doors finally closed all the way. "Where do you work?"

"Abbott and Wright. It's a marketing firm. It's only my second day."

"Ah, that explains why I haven't seen you before. I live in this building, you see. On one of the upper floors. I'm also a consultant. John Lawson." He held out a hand, and after a moment, she took it.

"Cindy Freeman. So you're here all the time, pretty much, then?"

"Would you want to be outside on a day like today?"

She laughed. "I guess not. Not that it seems much better in here. What's wrong with the air conditioning?"

"I don't know. Stan was just going to call Maintenance."

"There was a power outage on this block a few minutes ago. Just as I was getting here."

"I know. I was down the street at the market. But of course this building shouldn't be affected."

"That's right, they have that special power source." She started fanning herself with her purse. "It really is warm in here, isn't it?"

Loki was trying very hard not to think about it. He closed his eyes and pictured the snowy plain of Jotunheim, his birthplace. A place he'd only seen twice since he'd left (at the age of one day), but still. Think cool . . .

The elevator stopped. "Oh, this is my floor," said Cindy. "Nice talking with you, um, John."

"Have a good day at work," he said, his eyes still closed.

He heard the elevator doors close again, and the upward journey resumed. Eventually he reached the 86th floor. The moment the doors opened, he jerked upright from his lazy slump against the wall and pushed the cart before him down the hall.

Thor's room was never properly locked, but even if it had been, Loki could unlock it with a simple spell. He never went into anyone else's room uninvited (well, anymore; his forays into Tony's closet were a thing of the past now, and though he often visited Rogers in his suite, the good captain was in Washington at present and wouldn't be back till next week) except his brother's, and even then he stayed only long enough to unload the beer into the fridge, which held nothing else.

When the cool air hit his face, it felt so good that he just stood there with the door open for a moment. So nice. He could have stayed there forever, but he realized that if he did, the beer would get warm, and Thor didn't like warm beer. Sadly, he closed the door and headed for the stairs.

It was hot. Not quite as hot as outside, not yet, but the air in here wasn't moving, so it felt heavy and dead. Hopefully the problem would be fixed very soon.

He waved a hand at the door to his apartment, and it opened on its own, one of several slight modifications he'd made to the security system. None of which had as yet been detected. He went into his bedroom and flopped down on the bed, reaching for the remote to turn on his bedroom TV.

It was so hot! Why was it so hot?

"There's your problem," the head of Maintenance, whose name, according to his uniform shirt pocket, was MORTY, said to Tony Stark. "This part's completely burnt out."

"Can you replace it?" Tony had three fans going: one in the bedroom, one in the kitchen, and the third in the living room. None of them seemed to be making much of a difference.

"I just called Central. We don't have that part in stock, but they do have one at our branch in Philly."

"Can they ship it here?"

"Already put in the request. Best they can do is overnight it to us and have it here in the morning. AC should be back in business by noon tomorrow."

"And what are we supposed to do in the meantime?"

Morty shrugged. "Get a window unit?"

"Our windows don't open!" It was a safety feature he had added after being thrown out his own window during the Battle of New York. Let no one say that Tony Stark didn't learn from his mistakes.

"More fans then, I guess. I dunno. I'll be back in the morning to fit the new part for you."

"It's not even ten o'clock yet, Morty. What are five thousand people in this building supposed to do for twenty-four hours in this heat?"

Again, the maintenance man shrugged. "It's not bad in the lobby. Move everyone down there."

Tony sighed. "All right, thanks. I'll see you first thing tomorrow." He was glad that Pepper was at her sister's place on the coast, escaping the worst of the city heat. He just hadn't expected to have to deal with it inside his building.

As soon as Morty was gone, he sent a building-wide memo to everyone about the problems with the HVAC system. An hour later, he was down in the lobby with most of the rest of the residents of the top floors.

"All right," he said, looking around and mentally taking attendance. "My staff informs me that the problems with the AC won't be fixed until tomorrow morning. Now, the offices have already closed down for the day, and I've told them I'll message them when we're up and running again. Meanwhile, as for the rest of us . . . I thought tonight we could have a campout here in the lobby."

He gestured around to the fans placed at strategic points for maximum cooling. "We've got power, so that shouldn't be a problem. If you want to spend the day somewhere cooler, that's fine. Go to the movies, go to the mall, go wherever you want. Be back here by six, cause I'm ordering in. Then we'll all bring down our sleeping bags and sit around an imaginary campfire and tell ghost stories."

Everyone agreed it sounded like fun. They all went their separate ways for the rest of the morning and the afternoon, and no one noticed that their little gathering had been short one Frost Giant.

The pitiful fan wasn't helping any longer. Neither were the cold drinks, though they felt good going down.

He couldn't go on like this much longer. The stifling, overheated air weighed on him like a woolen blanket. If he had to sit in this room all day, he would pass out.

Loki wandered from floor to floor, taking the stairs since he wasn't sure if the elevators were still working. He found no one at all in the building. Where had they all gone? Was there some emergency of which he hadn't been aware that had forced the evacuation of the building? He couldn't smell gas or smoke. The electricity was still on, thanks to the arc reactor that powered the entire building.

But there wasn't a soul around.

He made it as far down as the twenty-fourth floor, where that Cindy woman he'd met this morning worked. All of the offices were dark, the doors locked. No notices were posted to give any clue where everyone had gone.

"Now that's odd," he murmured to himself. Maybe he should try calling someone.

But his phone was all the way upstairs, and he didn't feel like walking all the way back up. It was a struggle just to stay awake in this heat.

He found a company lounge, complete with two fridges and a microwave. Hot food didn't appeal to him, though, and he checked the freezer. Someone had brought a carton of Ben and Jerry's, some strange flavor he'd never heard of before.

"I should finish this," he said aloud, "before it goes bad. They'll only have to throw it out anyway."

He found a plastic spoon in a drawer, sat down, and polished off the entire pint in the space of twenty minutes. It wasn't bad, really. It did provide some relief, but only temporary.

The heat was making him sleepy. He put his head down on the table, right in a puddle of melted ice cream, and fell asleep.

When he woke, the room was dark. Night already? But the sun didn't go down until well after eight now. How long had he been asleep?

He tried to raise his head and couldn't. After a moment, he realized that the reason had less to do with any muscle weakness and more to do with being stuck to the table by the melted and now dried ice cream. With difficulty, he pried himself free.

The moment his head came up, the lights snapped on. Motion sensor? Must be.

There was a clock on the wall to his left. He saw that it was only quarter past two. So he'd had a good four-hour nap, but in the meantime, it hadn't gotten any cooler.

He went to the fridge, found a bottle of water, and poured a little on a paper towel, wiping the ice cream mess off his cheek. He drank the rest. Then he grabbed another bottle and poured it over his head.

His shirt was soaked, but he felt so much better. Too bad there wasn't a pool in the neighborhood. He could do with a dip or two right now.

No, he didn't have access to a pool. But there was something else he could do.

He found a bag of ice in the freezer and hauled it out. It might be mostly melted by the time he made it upstairs, but if he took the elevator, maybe it wouldn't have time to melt completely. Besides, his fridge had an ice maker.

He made his way back to his own apartment, went to the bathroom, and started filling up the tub with water as cold as he could get it. Then he emptied the bag of ice into the cold water, waited for it to settle, and climbed in, after removing his shirt and trousers.

Ooh. Ooh. This was . . . absolute perfection. He no longer felt like his brain would fry, or his body melt into a puddle on the floor. He lay back in the tub, submersing himself all the way up to his nostrils, and closed his eyes.

The building's residents drifted in, in twos and threes.

"We went to the library," said Nathan, who was with Riley and Peter Parker. "There were a lot of people there."

"They've expanded their graphic novels," Riley enthused. "I found this amazing one that was originally in French. The art is so cool!"

"We went to the mall," said Natasha. "Lot of people there too."

"And we spent way too much money on nothing," said Clint, who was toting three or four large bags.

"You were the one who insisted on buying most of that stuff!"

"I bought two things. You bought all the rest."

"Some of it's for Connor!"

"Oh, sure, use him as an excuse."

The nine-month-old gurgled, oblivious.

Tony chuckled at this exchange. "I guess it's true; kids change you. I hope they don't change me."

Stan came back from making his rounds. His sleeves were rolled up and his cap was hanging on his belt. "Welcome back to the Tenth Circle of Hell, folks. We had a glitch with some lights on twenty-four a few hours ago, but it's been pretty quiet since."

"What kind of glitch?"

"Something set a motion sensor off, I guess. I don't see how; there's no one here. Just me, and now all of you. Who would want to hang out in this hot box anyway?"

"Did my delivery arrive yet?"

"Not yet. I called it in half an hour ago. They should be here any minute."

No sooner had he finished saying so than someone in a red uniform knocked on the front door. Stan let him in.

"Hi, I'm with Bites in Flight? You ordered some food to go?"

"We certainly did, my good man. Just bring it in and set it over here. Did the payment go through already?"

The delivery driver checked his phone. "Yes, sir, payment has been accounted for. Here you go." He brought in several bags with the logo of a local chicken place. "If you need anything else, don't hesitate to call us."

"We'll do that. Thank you so much."

Bruce and Betty arrived home a moment later. "The museum sends its regards," he said.

"Hey, just in time. I hope you like chicken. I bought eight family-size buckets. Grab one and pass it around." He unloaded side dishes onto one of the coffee tables. "Now as for drinks, I have Coke, I have root beer, I have lemonade, I have sugar-free lemonade," he said, with a nod toward Riley. "I have no idea how it tastes, but you're welcome to it. There's also a few small bottles of water. Let's hope we have enough for everyone. Of course, Thor can eat a whole family-size bucket by himself. Anyone know when he's due back?"

"I don't know," said Bruce, "but where's Loki?"

Tony looked around. "You know, I don't think I saw him this morning, either. Isn't today his day at the shelter?"

"No," said Peter. "That's Tuesday. Today's Wednesday."

"I saw him come in," said Stan. "He was lugging a truckload of beer upstairs. This was, oh, nine-thirty or so. Just after the power went out on the block. It came right back. Good thing; we might have power but we don't have much in the way of cool air."

"You didn't see him go out again, did you?"

"I don't think so. I could check the cameras-"

"No need," came the voice from above. "Mr. Laufeyson has not left the tower since returning home at nine thirty-two."

"Thanks, JARVIS." Tony looked up and smiled. "Where is he now?"

"He is in his suite. He . . . does not appear to have moved in some time."

"Sleeping?"

Betty and Bruce looked at each other in alarm.

"It's got to be a thousand degrees up there," said Bruce. "He might have passed out."

"I'll go prep the medicenter," said Betty, heading for the north elevators. Bruce and Tony took the south, hoping they wouldn't find the worst.

The door to Loki's apartment was locked.

"No problem." Tony withdrew his master key from his wallet and swiped it through the mag lock.

Nothing happened. Not even a buzz to indicate that he'd done it wrong.

"I don't get it." He tried it again, and again, with the same result. Then he remembered. "Oh, wait, didn't he say he'd done something to the lock? Something magical, so only he could open it."

"I could change and break it down."

"No! If he's only sleeping, we can wake him and get him to open the door." He rapped on the slick surface. "Loki? Hey, can you open up? We're all worried about you."

No response.

Tony pounded on the door. "Loki, please answer me! You're not in any trouble; we just wanna make sure you're okay. Open the door!"

Still nothing.

Bruce started to unbutton his shirt. "You might want to stand back."

"Right now? Right here?"

"I don't see any other way. If he won't-or can't-let us in, we'll have to-"

There was a flare of green light and a click. Tony pushed on the door and it opened right away.

"I guess he heard us."

"So he's conscious. That's good."

They entered the suite of rooms and looked around. He wasn't in the living room. He was likewise absent from the kitchen . . . but there was a trail of water by the fridge that led into the bathroom.

Where they finally found the god lying up to his neck in a bathtub full of lukewarm water. His eyes were closed, but he felt their presence and opened them slowly.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Quarter past six. We're having dinner. Come down and join us."

"And thanks for the Speedo," added Tony, trying not to stare at the scrap of bright fabric that was all that stood between them and a completely nude Loki.

"I must have fallen asleep. The water's gotten warm. I ran out of ice."

"Ice?"

Loki shifted around so that his torso was out of the water. "The summers in Asgard can be quite warm. When I was a child, and I was overcome by the heat, they-my mother and the healers-would draw water, as cold as they could find, and keep me in it for hours. It was quite pleasant, actually." He got up on his knees and then climbed out of the tub. "I wasn't sure anyone would come looking for me. That I wasn't cool enough to join your little party."

"Loki, you're our friend," said Tony. "We'd never purposely leave you out. I thought you'd gone out somewhere."

"You know, I never thought of that. All right, let me just put some clothes on and I'll come and join you." He grabbed for a towel that was hanging on the back of the door. "Thank you for coming to my rescue. It's good to have friends."

"We'll see you down in the lobby when you're ready," said Bruce. As he and Tony left the apartment, he pulled out his phone. "Betty? You can shut everything down again. He's fine."

Finally, they were all together. Loki, dressed in lightweight black slacks and a green button-down shirt that was open to the third button, appeared and reassured everyone that he was still alive and feeling quite well, actually. He helped himself to some chicken and potatoes, stretching out on the floor with the paper plate between his spread legs.

At last Thor came home, alone, having dropped Jane off at her hotel room. He devoured what was left of the chicken, the potatoes, and a whole tub of cole slaw, and Loki was so glad to see him that he didn't even mention his misadventures that day.

"Did you get my beer?" the Thunder God asked between bites.

It took Loki a minute to remember. That morning seemed a thousand years away now. "Yes. Yes, I did. I put it in your fridge. Want me to go and fetch it?"

"No, not now. Perhaps later. I hear there will be stories!"

There were stories. Everyone had one to tell, it seemed. Some of them were funny, a few were sad, and there were one or two spooky ones.

When it was his turn to tell the tale, Loki chose the time he and Thor went on a quest to find a mythical sword that was said to be hidden in a wood miles from their home.

The quest had not ended victoriously.

"There was no sword," he said. "There probably never was. There were, however, bees, mud, badly-placed rocks, and a stream full of small biting fish. We barely escaped from that with our lives! When we finally made it home, filthy, bruised, and empty-handed, the first person we met inside the walls was Mother, who took one look and said, 'This is why I told you never to listen to what "some man down in the pub" says.'"

Everyone laughed, good-naturedly.

"And that was the last time we went on a quest. At least, for a while. I preferred to do all my adventuring in the pages of my books, where the only risk was that of a paper cut."

"You know you enjoyed it," said Thor, draining the rest of his beer. He crumpled the can and tossed it over his shoulder, where it landed perfectly in the blue bin. Of course he always made the shot. But, Loki reflected, that was just who he was.

The evening wore on, and they changed into pajamas and unrolled sleeping bags and blankets on the floor. There was plenty of room for all of them to stretch out.

Loki spread the top two blankets of his bed out next to his brother, who had borrowed a sheet and pillow from the top-floor linen closet. In the hottest weather, he often slept with no covers at all, and sometimes no nightclothes. (That would not be the case tonight.)

"You're right," he said, as they settled down. "I did have somewhat of a good time."

"Only somewhat?"

"I nearly twisted my ankle when I fell off my horse!"

"You were able to heal it. Just like you healed me when I knocked my head on that branch."

"That was no branch, that was an entire tree! You should have looked where you were going!"

"It jumped into my path!"

"A tree jumped into your path? Trees don't do that."

"Trees in a magical forest do what they please."

"It was not a-" He stopped and took a deep breath. "You know what? It's late."

"Not that late."

"After eleven. I've had a long, hot day, and I'm very tired. Can we just sleep now?"

Thor laughed and ruffled his brother's hair. "We will have other adventures. You know you will always be welcome to come along. I could never forget you."

The lights in the lobby dimmed to minimum security level. Loki, who had slept for a good part of the day, expected to have trouble falling asleep, but he lay there for only minutes before drifting off.

He woke suddenly, in darkness, from a nightmare he couldn't quite remember. The only part that came to mind was something small and vicious which tried to eat his toes. Possibly tied in with memories of the biting fish, but he didn't want to think about it.

He slid over a few inches until his body was pressed directly up against Thor's. He leaned into the comforting warmth, trying to think of good memories and good times.

Without waking, Thor thrust out an arm and laid it across Loki's shoulders, holding him close. The years could not erase that instinct, honed in early childhood.

Nightmares forgotten, the relentless heat (which was pushed back but not entirely eliminated by the drone of the fans surrounding them) forgotten, everything forgotten but the comforting presence beside him, Loki closed his eyes and fell back into sleep.

When he woke in the morning, he heard the hum of the air conditioning system, back online.

"Press 24, please."

"Good morning, Cindy." Loki turned and smiled at the young woman. "I see you're on time this morning."

"I see you've made another beer run."

"Yes, we, um, had a little get-together last night. The supply needed to be replenished."

"I see."

"I only had one. I'm not much of a drinker."

"Well, you do you."

They stood together in silence for a moment.

"I hope I'm not being too forward," Loki said at last, "but I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me. You do get a lunch break, don't you?"

"Yes, of course."

"There's a nice place down the block that serves something called shawarma. It's quite good, actually."

"Oh, well, I-"

"Or we could go to the Mexican place up the other way."

"I don't know-"

"Anywhere you like, really. I don't mind."

"It's just that . . . I have a boyfriend."

"That's all right. I have a wife. She's coming in a few days with our children." He looked at her seriously. "My dear Cindy, I'm not doing this because I expect anything from you. I just want to be friends. Nothing more. Is that all right with you?"

"Well, I guess."

"Good! May I walk with you to your office?"

"All right."

When the elevator doors opened, they both stepped out and walked in step together down the hall, Loki trying very hard to pretend he didn't already know the way.

"I'm very glad the A/C's been fixed."

"Me too. Although an extra day off would have been nice."

"I suppose we take what we can get."

"What did you do yesterday?" she asked him.

"Me? Oh, I . . . I took a cool bath."

"Spa day, huh?"

"Yes, I suppose."

They reached the outer offices of Abbott and Wright, where Loki left the cart full of beer outside and held the door for Cindy. "After you, my lady."

"Aren't you charming?"

"I try to be."

There was an awkward moment when they stood there staring at each other, not sure what to do next.

"So, um, I'll see you around . . . noon? Is that good for you?"

"That's fine," she said. "I'll be waiting."

Just then a short, plump woman with brown hair and a permanent frown came charging out of one of the inner offices. "Who ate my ice cream?" she demanded in a voice like a fire alarm. "I had a full carton of Ben and Jerry's in the freezer, and I just found the empty carton in the trash! Somebody owes me five bucks!"

"Debbie, none of us were even here yesterday," Cindy said calmly. "No one here ate it."

"Well, it didn't eat itself! Don't make me check the cameras!"

"Are there cameras in here?" Loki asked.

"Standard security setup," said Cindy. "Only the higher-ups have access to that footage, though."

"Oh, I'll get access, believe me," Debbie grumbled. "I knew I should have taken it with me!"

She turned her furious glare on Loki, who suddenly felt the need to be somewhere else. "Well, I should be going. You have work to do and I have . . . beer to deliver. I'll see you at noon, then?"

"Sure. Till noon, then."

He could still hear Debbie ranting as he rounded the corner and made his way back to the elevators. It had been a bad move, he decided, to eat the ice cream. But he had enjoyed every bit of it.

Which was why, a short time later, when a carton identical to the one he had unwittingly filched the previous afternoon mysteriously appeared in the office break room, a second one appeared in his own freezer.

Nothing like ice cream to keep one cool.